Woman stranded, scared in city after ‘rude’ bus driver refused ticket over $20 note

A YOUNG female commuter was left stranded and scared in the city at night — all for having the wrong change.

Chelsea Pinn, 21, of Para Vista couldn’t buy a bus ticket when she only had a $20 note. Picture: Stephen Laffer

A YOUNG woman was left stranded and scared in the Adelaide city after a “rude” bus driver refused to sell her a ticket because she did not have the right change.

Chelsea Pimm, 21, was furious the driver kicked her off the M44 bus just after 8pm on a cold weeknight because she only had a $20 note to pay for the $5.20 fare.

“It’s pitch black at night, it’s scary, anything could happen and I had to stay at the places which were lit for my own safety, on my own for more than 30 minutes,’’ the angry charity call centre operator said.

“I want an apology from the Transport Department. All I wanted to do was get home safely and they prevented that from happening,’’ said Ms Pimm, adding that she felt threatened being stuck in the city at night.

According to lobby group, People for Public Transport, the incident involving Ms Pimm comes as no surprise and said that it had received similar complaints from other passengers in the past.

PPT president Mr Thanasis Avramis said there were “no notice on buses warning people they only accept correct change’’.

“I’ve heard of this type of thing happening before. It’s not unknown,” he said.

“In this case, it’s seriously inconveniencing someone who doesn’t really want to be in the city at night, alone for half an hour.’’

Ms Pimm, who had just finished work, had to wait more than half an hour for her partner to collect her at Grenfell St in the city because she didn’t want to risk catching another bus.

“I’ve paid the fare with a $20 note before,” the Para Vista resident said.

“This time the driver said he needed the exact $5.20 and that he wouldn’t give me any change for the $20 note.

“It was ridiculous. He was so rude and he never said why he wouldn’t give me change or why I had to have the exact amount.’’

Mr Avramis said he appreciated drivers wouldn’t want to be a potential crime target by carrying large amounts of change but he said there should be an option to pay for fares by credit card.

“The department should investigate rolling out such electronic payment machines across the network,’’ he said.

A department spokeswoman said the incident was being investigated because “it’s not the policy to only accept the correct change” and apologised for the “inconvenience or distress caused to the passenger”.

Light-City Buses, which runs the M44 service, was also unsuccessfully contacted for comment.

Originally published as Woman stranded, scared in city after ‘rude’ bus driver refused ticket over $20 note